Chapter Eight #2
The hold on his control snapped; he could keep back the inevitable no more.
Again and again, he stroked into her, went as deep as possible.
She held onto the forearm he used to anchor himself and keep the bulk of his weight off her.
Once they discovered a rhythm, she canted her hips, met each of his pushes.
Hot, frantic need slammed through his body.
Over and over, he claimed her, showing her with his actions that she wasn’t the broken, unwanted woman that she thought.
Then she shifted position, wrapped her legs about his waist, and he leaned over her.
The new angle was apparently pleasing, for she caught her breath, looped her arms about his shoulders.
Tiny pinpricks of pain from her nails digging into his skin urged him onward, as did the sounds of delight she made.
“Quickly, Laurence.”
“Right.” All too soon, the unrelenting pressure came due.
Tingling need went through his stones and shaft.
He pistoned his hips faster, thrust into her with so much purpose that the sound of flesh hitting flesh blended with the afternoon world around them.
Rose’s hold on him slipped. With a cry her body stiffened.
She contracted around his length so intensely that it pulled him into his own release.
With one more deep stroke, he shattered hard.
A strangled shout left his throat, then he collapsed.
He wrapped his arms around her, content to hold her, and with something akin to awe, he pressed tiny, feather weighted kisses to her cheeks, her chin, her forehead, her closed eyelids.
Salt came away on his lips; she was softly crying. “Please tell me I didn’t hurt you in my enthusiasm.”
“No. Everything is lovely.” She slipped a hand to his nape and found his lips with hers. “This is excess of emotion, a different sort of release I suppose you can say.”
“Why?”
“It has been a few years since I did this. And last time landed me into a scandal I could never climb out of.”
“I’m sorry.” Perhaps they had both needed the distraction and the release today, and damn if he didn’t want another coupling merely to see her face again as she fell over the edge, to have her beneath him, or hell, take her against a tree, on a sofa, pin her to a wall…
“It has nothing to do with you, Laurence.”
“On the contrary, if it hurts you, it worries me. You saved my life; did you truly think I’d let you suffer?
” If he wasn’t careful, such thoughts would prove his undoing, for he wasn’t nearly good enough for her, but somehow, when he’d claimed her body, he’d decided that he might like to try his hand at paying his addresses.
“So you think you are my knight in shining armor?” One of her blonde-brown eyebrows rose in challenge.
“If you wish me to be. However, I’m glad you enjoyed this session,” he whispered into the side of her neck as he pulled her close again.
Never would he have enough of that satiny skin.
Then worries sneaked back in to mar the moment.
Now that she’d had the immediate need of desire quenched would she want the attentions of a baron with naught to his name except the title?
“I am quite pleased.” Amusement and exhaustion threaded through her voice. “And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind another go.”
“Ah, Rose.” He kissed her forehead before rolling onto his side, where he tucked her against him with an arm beneath her head and the other slung across her hips. “Allow me an hour to rest, for I am not a young man any longer.”
A tired but curious grin curved her kiss-swollen lips. “How fortuitous you introduced this topic. What is your age?”
He chuckled. “I just turned four and thirty a month ago. Positively ancient in your eyes, I’d imagine.”
“Hardly.” She turned in his arms, so her backside was flush to his front, and damn if the first inklings of renewed interest didn’t shiver through his member. “I am six and twenty. You are not so much older than me, and from what you’ve told me, you and I have had similar life experiences.”
No, that wasn’t a huge gap to overcome, but the class divide perhaps was, and once again, the unworthy feelings swept through him. At the last second, he shoved them away, for he didn’t wish to sully this moment.
“Perhaps they are only similar because that is what our world demanded at the time, what it has evolved into.”
She snorted. “You believe that if the world had advanced further, your father wouldn’t have given up your sister?”
“Perhaps, or my mother wouldn’t have passed away during the birthing of her. Doctors are not skilled at healing.” He’d had cause to witness many horrid things on the fields of battle.
“Or other things might not have happened,” she said quietly as she rotated in his arms. When a sigh left her throat, the warmth of her breath skated along the underside of his chin. “Except, if those things didn’t happen, would we be the same people we are now?”
“I don’t know. If those things occurred by fate, then we probably wouldn’t escape the paths we’ve walked.”
“That is a dismal thought.”
“Indeed, but the reality of our growing world means that things will eventually grow better.” He slid his hand down her spine, and again reveled in the softness of her skin.
“England will become embroiled in future wars, and just like the fledgling country, America, other countries around the world will want their independence as well.” He paused, for these thoughts often danced through his mind.
“I fear that many more lives will be lost in the quest for men to show power and domination over one another.” What a horrible thing to say, but he felt that truth deep in his soul.
“Yet fighting for one’s freedom and independence from one of those powers that bully can surely be a good thing.”
“Yes, of course, but England won’t give up control over the empire that easily. And neither will other rising powers be content to let England stand.”
“Does that mean you will return to the military?”
God, that thought hadn’t entered his mind, but now the worry was there. “I’m not certain. When my commission was over, I came hope quite grateful to do so, but the life waiting for me here didn’t exactly scream welcome.”
“And if King and Country demand it?” A hint of fear threaded through her voice.
“I will meet that challenge if it comes along.” Laurence pressed his lips to her temple. “First, I need to regain my full strength.”
She pulled away from him with a gasp. “Good heavens, did what we did put you into another relapse?”
“No, it did not, though I am fatigued, but in a good way.”
“That is lovely to hear.” One of her hands slid around and then she pinched his buttock, giggled when he hissed out a breath. “Don’t be so quick to leave Landry Hall, Captain. I’m not quite done with you.”
“Right, because there is still the work to be done I promised you.”
“No. Nothing to do with that.” She nipped the underside of his jaw. “I’m not done with you because this session was all too wonderful, and I felt far too lovely in your presence. As if I wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders any longer.”
“Ah.” When she giggled again, his heart squeezed, for the sound was heaven-sent. “You can talk to me as well, Rose. It will help.”
“I know.” For the next few moments, she remained silence. Then, “I cannot believe I gave into the temptation that is you.”
He burrowed his nose into her hair as he grinned. “Perhaps I’m too charming.”
“I’ll agree to that statement.” She combed her fingers through the hair on his chest, and with each pass, his muscles tensed, for the touch was erotic even if it wasn’t meant that way. “I’m becoming far too used to having you around, Captain.”
Knots of worry pulled in his gut. “I’m not someone you should be seen with.”
“Now who is talking gammon?” Her fingers stilled on his chest. “I used to be much more fun, a plain-speaking lady who thumbed her nose at society’s rules.”
“You aren’t now?”
“Perhaps I am a silent hoyden these days. A broken filly as it were.” If possible, she wriggled closer into his body.
“To be honest, I feel as if I have been trapped inside a prison of sorts. Wondering when my time to break forth will come, if at all.” She lowered her voice even though they were the only two out there.
“Yet how can I when I’ve essentially been shunned, even by my family? ”
His gut clenched. “I can help if you let me.” The chill in the air was invigorating.
“You needn’t go it alone.” She didn’t answer, and he didn’t push.
If she wished for his ear or his assistance, she would ask, but it had to be her decision.
For long moments, he simply held her, listened to the steady beat of her heart, and reveled in the fact that she’d found him worthy enough to couple with her.
“Laurence?” Her voice was small in the shadows encroaching from the hedges blocking it.
“Yes?”
“Do you truly think I can reclaim the spirit of a hoyden I used to be?”
“I don’t know you all that well, but I do know that the status quo will never change if you continue to do things you’ve always done. That advice applies to us both, I believe.”
“Good.” She tucked herself closer to his body. “I might like to try.”
“I look forward to seeing you evolve.” And, God help him, he intended to try his luck at courting an autumn hoyden.